First Love by Apostle Femi Lazarus: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Revelation 2:1-4

This is the letter Jesus sends to the first of the seven churches positioned around Asia Minor — the church at Ephesus. Starting from verse one through to verse four in the Good News translation: "But this is what I have against you: you do not love me now as you did at first."

This is Jesus speaking. The reason to take what he says seriously is because the one who is speaking is the one who knows. He knows every hidden part of your life. He doesn't need inquiry to know about you. He's the God of all flesh.

He began that statement by commending them. Verse four almost makes no sense if you look at the commendations that precede it — how they laboured, how they judged falsehood, how they tested those who claimed to be apostles and found them liars. And despite all of that, he said something is missing. He didn't say they no longer loved. He said, not like they used to. God is simply saying: I miss what we used to have.

The Marriage Illustration

A very good illustration of this is marriage. It is very possible to celebrate from one anniversary to another, take pictures and go out to places, and yet both people know they no longer have what they used to have. The oath is still holding them, but the strings connecting the two hearts are broken.

There is a pattern: as soon as many people get what they wanted, they no longer want what they had. You would never think when a man was courting a woman that a day would come in their union when she would ask, "Do you still love me?" But life happens — and two people who used to be so much into each other may walk past each other like they've never met.

First Love That Was Never Had

The letter to the church at Ephesus can only be addressed to the one who has a first love to return to. Unfortunately, many believers got born again in an atmosphere where they don't even have an idea of what that first love means. So the message flies over their heads — they've never had a reference point.

There is a joy and passion that comes with being born again that makes a believer want to go any extent for the one who saved them. Being born again is not just about confessing Jesus as Lord and Saviour and then going back to your old life. Galatians 2:20 declares: I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.

That's the life of the new man. It is exchanged life. Civilisation may affect the quality of the message from the church, but it cannot affect the quality of that life.

Wherever there is genuine affection, it comes with a package of commitment. You cannot meet the Jesus of the Bible and not ask what Paul asked: What do you want me to do?

Look at the conversion of Saul in Acts 9. He was on his way to Damascus to persecute believers when suddenly a light shone from heaven. He fell to the earth and heard a voice: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He said, "Who are you?" And the answer came: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Trembling and astonished, Saul said: "Lord, what will you have me to do?"

If you encounter the true Jesus, you want to follow him all the way. In Luke 18, when Jesus met blind Bartimaeus and said "Go your way," the Bible says instead he followed Jesus. Salvation is not just a confession — look at the person a week, a month after, and there should be a difference.

The woman at the well of Samaria had one encounter and could not stop talking about him. The reason you are not passionate about him is because you have not met him. When you meet him, he ravishes your heart with love.

The Danger of a Foundation Never Laid

There is a first love that many are not even acquainted with. If you are struggling in your Christian walk, finding it difficult to connect with God, looking at your life and unable to trace a season when all you wanted was to pray, to evangelise, to find where believers gathered and join them — the kind of Jesus being introduced to this generation will bring trouble.

The Christianity where believers won't show up unless the AC is cool enough, where they move from church to church whenever a pastor says something they don't like, where they have disjointed spiritual curriculums because they never rooted anywhere — that is a Christianity without a foundation.

Psalms 11:3 says: If the foundation is destroyed, what shall the righteous do? The reason God cannot anchor many of us to anything is because our faith doesn't have depth.

When the apostle gave his life to Christ, it was after returning from a night party. That night he cried — because there is something about that light entering your soul. You've never known love like that. That's the first introduction to real life. Having encountered that life, you want all men to be saved.

If anyone has told you to just continue the way you are, they lied. Something is missing in your curriculum — it's called first love. Did you ever have a moment you can trace back to, when all you wanted to do was stay in the place of prayer?

Psalms 11:3 — if the foundation is destroyed, what shall the righteous do?

Everyone who met the Jesus of the Bible had their life changed. You cannot meet the Jesus of the Bible and live a double-standard life. There is something about the light from his presence that makes you hate sin. It is not one of those things you struggle against — you grow disdain for it. It repulses you. You want to stay in his presence.

It is a light that breaks into your system. It didn't quicken you from the dead to make you faint. It brought you from death into life. That's salvation.

What First Love Looks Like

Look at the event in Acts 2 when the disciples gathered together in one accord on the Day of Pentecost. A sound filled the room, cloven tongues of fire sat upon them, and they began to speak in other tongues. That day Peter stood defending the faith, and those who heard and believed were baptised and became part of the church.

They all began to share all things in common — because there is something about the life of Christ that delivers you from yourself. That's what real Christianity looks like.

There is what a new believer should look like. Imagine a couple who from the very beginning of their marriage has no passion for each other — not one season of love, no honeymoon. That home will be a disaster because when trouble comes, there is no reference point. Many believers are doing marriage with Christ that has no honeymoon. There's no reference in their walk with Christ — no season they can point to where they were consumed with love for him.

That is why everything said about hunger for God keeps flying over their heads. There is no reference.

Listen — if you don't have first love, the beautiful thing is that water can turn to wine. Today, Jesus can introduce you to what being in love with him looks like. He can take away the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Three Reasons This Generation Lacks First Love

You may also like

Efc2026: Easter Faith Convention - Wings Of Faith - Encounter Night

by Bishop David Oyedepo

arrow_forward

What has changed that people get born again and you never see them become zealous for the gospel? Why does it look like the blood that saved the fathers was diluted in this generation? Three reasons:

1. The Kind of Gospel They Are Hearing

   It matters the gospel you received. 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 says: The gospel which I preached unto you, which you also received, wherein you stand, by which you are also saved. It is the gospel you were preached that you received, and it is in that gospel that you stand. So it matters.

   If they preached the gospel of "anything goes" to you, you live your life as anything goes. Until the coming of Jesus, many believers will understand that they were virgins without oil. Many will look for the pastors who gave them the impression that as long as you confess him, all is well. All is not well. You know a tree by its fruit.

   We have found ways to demonically combine compromise and call it grace. The silence of God is not grace — it's judgment. The devil doesn't keep secrets for anyone. He's waiting for the time when your fall will have economic value.

   Don't lay the foundation of your Christian walk on rubble.

2. The Community Where They Find Themselves

   We need a community of faith where people inspire each other to pray. That's how deep Christian growth happens. When you hear a brother or sister praying, something stirs in you. That's how fire is shared — not by going to clubs and then coming to church, but by iron sharpening iron.

   Anybody you meet who doesn't inspire you to pray, stop meeting that person. You have a race in front of you. Run with patience. Cut yourself off from those who ignite you to sin and whose whole conversation revolves around perversion. You cannot finish this race with wrong company.

3. Different Waves of Doctrine

   Matthew 24, 2 Timothy 3, and 1 Timothy 4 all warn that there will be false teachers. If you have not been able to identify a false teacher in your lifetime, it is a sign you may already be under the grip of one. What makes teaching false is that major junctions of truth have been removed. The church must wake up before the line between the clubhouse and the pulpit disappears entirely. Little compromise, gradual and steady — the devil shifts the goal post until you can no longer tell it's a pitch.

The Joy of Salvation

Salvation is not unto despair. David's prayer in Psalm 51 — written after his grievous sin — cries out: Restore unto me the joy of your salvation. There is a joy that comes with salvation. That when a sinner receives Christ, they are lightened. There's a joy you cannot explain that comes with being saved.

Romans 5:1 says: Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God — and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also.

There is a joy that outsiders actually think is suffering. There are those who genuinely believe you are suffering as a Christian because you stand for Christ. They try to imagine what a life looks like without the indulgences they pursue. But the joy of the Lord is our strength. That joy is found only in Jesus. Money won't give you that joy. It will only show you the emptiness of your soul.

That joy is only found in Jesus.

The Call to Return

If you have never had a first love experience, you can have one today. If you have lost it, you can return. Jesus himself said: "Come to me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He wants to show you what real rest looks like. He wants to help you build again from scratch.

When that light enters your heart it breaks you. When you see people genuinely receiving Christ and weeping, the godly sorrow is melting away the appetite and the nature of flesh. That's what first love looks like.